This morning the Supreme Court denied cert in McCane v. United States, the pro bono case I worked on over the last few months on whether the good faith exception of the Fourth Amendment applies to changing law. Although the Court denied cert in my case, I think it is extremely like that that the […]
Archive | March, 2010
Imagining a Reverse Yoo
I have one more question to add on to yesterday’s post on John Yoo and the torture memos. Let’s imagine what I’ll call a reverse Yoo. Here’s the hypo, with the question at the end. The year is 2002, and the CIA has come to OLC seeking a legal opinion about what “enhanced interrogation techniques” […]
Chief Justice Taney on the Privileges or Immunities of Citizens of the United States
How might the Republicans in the 39th Congress have gotten the idea that the Privileges or Immunities of Citizens of the United States included the personal guarantees included in the Bill of Rights? All concede that the Fourteenth Amendment was, among other things, designed to reverse Dred Scott. Here is how Chief Justice Taney described […]
Jacob Howard Explains Privileges or Immunties
This morning Professor Philip Hamburger graciously responds to my blog post reacting to his new paper on Privileges or Immunities. In an email, he also gave me permission to quote his paper. I should mention that Philip and I have been friends for many years, and I have always considered him to be both a […]
A Comment and a Question about the Investigation Into the Yoo/Bybee Torture Memos
I’ve mostly stayed out of the debate over whether John Yoo and Jay Bybee should be disciplined by DOJ for the so-called torture memos. I’ve read some news reports, and followed the issues a little bit, but I haven’t devoted nearly the number of hours to this issue that I would need to in […]
Gail Heriot and Peter Kirsanow on the Akaka Bill
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Gail Heriot and Peter Kirsanow of the US Commission on Civil Rights have an interesting op ed criticizing the Akaka Bill, which I myself criticized on federalism grounds in this post: Last week, the House of Representatives, in a largely party-line vote, passed the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act. Popularly […]